The Feasibility of Implementing Tai Chi for Nursing Home Residents With Knee Osteoarthritis and Cognitive Impairment.

This paper addresses the feasibility of implementing Tai Chi (TC) as an intervention for nursing home residents with osteoarthritis knee and cognitive impairment (CI). Recruiting elderly residents to participate was difficult. Only 9 out of the 31 originally thought eligible meet study criteria and 8 of the 9 elders eventually completed the study. With 2 sessions per week, the elders needed 8-10 weeks to learn the complete set of TC. They could not memorize the TC sequences, but they could follow the instructor who also employed verbal and visual cueing during the intervention. Clearly, elders with CI need different teaching methods and doses of TC. Using extended TC and teaching strategies tailored to participants' physical and cognitive capacity may promote effective learning.